ONE NEW HUMANITY. Rarely has so much been made of so little a couple of snip, snips and the whole

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1 ONE NEW HUMANITY Ephesians 2:11-22 Rarely has so much been made of so little a couple of snip, snips and the whole world is divided: the circumcision and the uncircumcision. The origins of this odd practice are not known with any certainty, but it seems the Egyptians were at it before the Jews took it up. Why circumcision was decided upon rather than some other distinguishing mark is a mystery. Why not a tattoo? Put it on the inside of the thigh if it needed to be out of sight. The one thing we can be sure of is that the reason circumcision was chosen as a mark of distinction was that it was originally an operation for males only because it was males who were important and hence who should be marked. Practices of female circumcision, or more accurately female genital mutilation, were taken up at the pleasure and for the pleasure of males and not as a gesture toward equality of the sexes. In the long history of male circumcision, it has more recently been rationalized that the practice had more than ritualistic benefits and that it actually improved health and prevented disease. There are studies today that indicate circumcision can be beneficial in reducing the transmission of the HIV virus. Be that as it may, in the Letter to the Ephesians we find the world divided up into the circumcision by which is meant the clean and specifically the Jews, and the uncircumcision who are the unclean and specifically the Gentiles. The designation circumcision/uncircumcision seems here to be used as a symbol to distinguish, from the Jewish point of view, who is right with God and 1

2 who is not. This distinction is one that would persist in the early church as Jewish followers of Jesus struggled to figure out who they were. In a powerful book titled War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, the veteran war correspondent Chris Hedges writes: War makes the world understandable, a black and white tableau of them and us. It suspends thought, especially self-critical thought. All bow before the supreme effort. We are one. Most of us willingly accept war as long as we can fold it into a belief system that paints the ensuing suffering as necessary for a higher good, for human beings seek not only happiness but also meaning. And tragically war is sometimes the most powerful way in human society to achieve meaning. (p. 10) Armed movements seek divine sanction and the messianic certitude of absolute truth. They do not need to get this from religions, as we usually think of religion, but a type of religion: Patriotism provides the blessing. Soldiers want at least the consolation of knowing that they risk being blown up by land mines for a greater glory, for a New World. Dissension, questioning of purpose, the exposure of war crimes carried out by those fighting on our behalf are dangerous to our beliefs. Dissidents who challenge the goodness of our cause, who question the gods of war, who pull back the curtain to expose the lie are usually silenced or ignored. (p. 14) Or, as one of the greatest of Western philosophers, David Hume, wrote in 1740: When our own nation is at war with any other, we detest them under the character of cruel, perfidious, unjust and violent: But always esteem ourselves and allies equitable, moderate, and merciful. If the general of our enemies be successful, tis with difficulty we allow him the figure and character of a man. He is a sorcerer: He is in 2

3 communication with daemons He is bloody-minded, and takes pleasure in death and destruction. But if the success be on our side, our commander has all the opposite good qualities, and is a pattern of virtue, as well as of courage and conduct. His treachery we call policy: His cruelty is an evil inseparable from war. In short, every one of his faults we either endeavour to extenuate, or dignify it with the name of that virtue, which approaches it. It is evident the same method of thinking runs thro common life. (A Treatise on Human Nature) I trust you see the parallels in the thinking that gives us war and the distinction of circumcision/uncircumcision to which the writer of the Letter to the Ephesians refers. If circumcision is a silly sign of our division, it is nevertheless a powerful symbol in biblical history for the tragedy of the way we divide the world into us and them and how this division can lead to the viciousness of war. But then we read, now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace... So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off [the uncircumcision] and peace to those who were near [the circumcision]; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Creator. That is who Christ is and what our faith is supposed to make possible. But even as the early church was thinking through this peace in Christ for the relationship of Jews and Gentiles, it was setting up new distinctions to identify who is in and who is out, so that whoever is not included is excluded. And so even to this day our fair church, the ELCA, is at its national assembly 3

4 about to deliberate again about whether or not homosexual persons are to be allowed full membership in the life of the church. About every third sermon it seems I remind you that the early church, the church of the First Century in particular, practiced its faith in the expectation that Jesus would soon return to make all things well. Among the things that would be made well is our broken humanity; our enmities would be overcome and we would be made one with God and with one another. Accordingly, the promise of one new humanity and peace would be realized from out of this world and in a future in heaven, brought about by a cosmic act of God. The promise of one new humanity thus became a wish to be bestowed from on high rather than the life and work of the church. And so we waited for it to come to us, a second coming to complete the first coming and make all things new; we have been waiting for 2000 years. That s a long time, and I think it would have been better if we had during that time been working in Christ for a new humanity rather than waiting for it to come to us out of the blue. Eight members of Emanuel, youth and adults, will be departing for New Orleans on Tuesday to attend the Jesus, Justice, Jazz Youth Assembly of the ELCA. As a congregation, we wish you Godspeed. Beyond this, I hope when you are in New Orleans and have the opportunity to talk to people from other ELCA churches that you will speak fondly of your congregation, and if asked to describe it, that you will say that Emanuel is a church committed to making peace and to the reconciliation of differences, a congregation working for the realization of one new humanity, a congregation that strives to tear down the walls that separate us whether those walls are personal or religious or national or based on class or gender or sexuality or race, that this is the kind of 4

5 congregation we are and the kind of congregation we want to be. Tell them you are part of a congregation where compassion is the highest virtue and the measure of our Christian commitment. Go and enjoy yourselves; learn, and be inspired. And when the event is through, return home with a renewed commitment to build here an ever more faithful dwelling place for God, a place dedicated in Christ to the realization of one new humanity. Amen. The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, July 19, 2009 Emanuel Lutheran Church 5